George Clooney takes action on Elgin marbles: they must be returned to Greece

Even the very popular actor George Clooney intervenes in the debate over the Elgin Marbles, the Parthenon reliefs that in 1811 the Earl of Elgin, Englishman Thomas Bruce, removed from the Athenian temple and moved them to England (in 1816 they were later purchased by the British government and transported to the British Museum), with the consent of the Ottoman Empire that ruled Greece (although shortly thereafter, in 1822, the country would gain independence). Reporting on George Clooney’s opinion is the Greek newspaper Ta Nea, which reports on a conversation between Clooney and Janet Suzman, chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, which has been fighting since 1983 to return the Elgin Marbles to their homeland.

“There are many items of historical value that should be returned to their rightful owners,” Clooney reportedly said. “However, none of them are as important as the Parthenon marbles. The Parthenon sculptures should return to their rightful owners,” the actor added, avoiding referring to the works by calling them “Elgin marbles.”

For Clooney, this is not the first intervention on the subject: the actor (who incidentally also had a role in the film Monuments men) had expressed the same ideas in 2015, and furthermore his wife, the Anglo-Lebanese lawyer Amal Alamuddin, has in the past offered some advice to the Hellenic government regarding the return of the marbles.

Ta Nea also reports Suzman’s statements: the marbles, he says, “are the heart of Greece’s cultural heritage. The British Museum has quarantined them, but one day it will let them back. It will do so because it is the right thing to do. Invoking fictitious ownership is something that a renowned institution cannot continue to do without covering itself with some ridicule.”

A very difficult comeback

The issue, however, appears quite complex: Greece has tried over and over again to get the Parthenon marbles returned, but without succeeding. In late 2019, Greece had asked for the marbles at least on loan, but London had responded by saying it would only grant them if Athens acknowledged British ownership. More recently, Greece’s culture minister, Lina Mendoni, had said that Brexit could facilitate the return of the marbles. Even the director of the Uffizi, Eike Schmidt, speaking on the very topic of Brexit, had said that it would be nice if the European Union could work to bring the Parthenon marbles back home.

The UK’s position, however, is clear: no return. In 2019, the director of the British Museum, Hartwig Fischer, had given a much-discussed interview in which he argued that the removal of the marbles was “a creative act.” Greece, on the other hand, thinks otherwise. Still, the issue is not over, and as celebrations for the country’s 200th anniversary of independence will begin soon, new developments are expected.

Pictured: George Clooney

George Clooney takes action on Elgin marbles: they must be returned to Greece

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